The Psalter in English: Wycliffite interpretations in context

Thesis

This thesis interrogates the interpretive approaches taken up across the diverse corpus of Psalm materials associated with the Wycliffites. This corpus includes English versions of the biblical text; glosses to the text as most prominently evidenced in the margins of Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Bodley 554; the declaration of the text’s meaning as witnessed in Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Trinity College 93; and, most extensive of all, the Revisions to Richard Rolle’s English Psalter Commentary. Reading each of these as a translatio of the Psalter into English, it contends that they together witness a dynamic and multi-dimensional, if not definitely coordinated, effort not only to translate the biblical text, or even to translate informative exegesis, but also to form a readership for the English Psalms.

The thesis thus seeks to draw out the simultaneous diversity of Wycliffite Psalm projects and their cohesion as expressions of a common impetus to extend both exegetical and spiritual formation to readers of the English Psalms. On the one hand, it highlights the diversity of manuscript settings for Psalm translations, and the diverse forms of commentary associated with these. On the other hand, it draws out the convergences between the readings of the Psalter, and moreover between ways of reading the Psalter, across the corpus, seeking to situate them in the context of scholasticism, the contemplative tradition, and reformist thought alike.

Authors: Southgate, A

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-1raqxvgd8
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Middle English; Psalter commentary; Wycliffite Psalms; contemplation and action; Medieval exegesis; English primers; Medieval Psalm reception; Wycliffite Studies; translation studies; revisions to Richard Rolle; Middle English manuscripts; Biblical translation
• Subjects: Manuscript Studies; Psalm Reception; Wycliffite Studies; Middle English